DCS: Liberation alternatives

[CybrSlydr]

Hey folks!  I've been an almost exclusive user of Liberation for DCS.  I love what it has to offer, but I'm getting tired of having to constantly play with my graphical settings to make it playable in VR (Reverb G2).  So, I figured I'd ask you folks what other alternatives there are, if there's something similar to Liberation I could use?  Or is Liberation pretty much it when it comes to a dynamic environment for DCS?

I've avoided scripted campaigns because... that old-school F-16 simulator broke me with it's dynamic campaign and I just can't get with scripted campaigns anymore.

Appreciate your input, folks!

[NightstalkerNOR]

You have "DCS Retribution", which is based on Liberation. I find it very configurable and FPS friendly with a one time setup before starting the campaign. I am unsure how it compares to Liberation since I have not used Liberation in a while, but it is an option you might want to try?

[Mike_CK]

It was awhile before i realized how much of your CPU is used by ground vehicles and their motel pathfinding brains. I lowered the initial money for the AI to 300 so they can buy some vehicles but not too much. Then they get their monthly allowance. I give myself 1500 but set my per turn to zero.

my point is that I limit the number of ground vehicles both the AI and I have and it helped performance a lot. 
 

you can try Retribution but it uses the same engine/sytem as Liberation. It’s kind of an offshoot

[Roy35150]

You can also delete squadrons at initial start of campaign,

This makes a "massive" diff to fps.

Also im not sure if retribution is still getting updates?

Greetz from eire...

[MadMonty]

Digital Crew Chief (DCC) is also an alternativ:

 

https://github.com/Kilcekru/dcc

 

Even though, it is very limited in available theatres, it is very performance friendly.

[Skeet]

How is Retribution for quirky issues with DCS updates?  For instance, are there occasions when you attempt to fly the mission, and your aircraft just never spawns into the game; you can watch all of the A.I. flights on F-10 view and F-2 views, but the player jet just never spawns?

[_Dar]

Playing typically a mission a day with DCS (STEAM, MT Preview, v2.9.7.59263, single player) and DCS Liberation (v1.3.1) and did not encounter any issues with it up to now.

I always add my flight manually and start ASAP.

I especially like the performance settings, compared to DCS Liberation, to get a better flight experience on my not so powerful PC.

[MadMonty]

On 9/20/2024 at 4:28 PM, Skeet said:

How is Retribution for quirky issues with DCS updates?  For instance, are there occasions when you attempt to fly the mission, and your aircraft just never spawns into the game; you can watch all of the A.I. flights on F-10 view and F-2 views, but the player jet just never spawns?

Know issue for Retribution / Persistant / DCC.

Simple solution: Open Mission in Mission Editor, simply click save mission, leave Mission Edtior, run mission and aircraft is available

[NightstalkerNOR]

On 9/20/2024 at 4:28 PM, Skeet said:

How is Retribution for quirky issues with DCS updates?  For instance, are there occasions when you attempt to fly the mission, and your aircraft just never spawns into the game; you can watch all of the A.I. flights on F-10 view and F-2 views, but the player jet just never spawns?

I have never encountered the issue you mentioned. However, Retribution have settings to specify when the player aircraft starts and how the mission "fast forwarding" should be interrupted. Say the player-flight is starting 10 minutes after the mission start, you can set the mission to fast forward to 10 minutes past mission start time. If you don't activate the fast forwarding with interruption you risk sitting in the F10/outside view for 10 minutes before the player aircraft spawns.

[Airbarba]

On 9/22/2024 at 2:50 PM, _Dar said:

Playing typically a mission a day with DCS (STEAM, MT Preview, v2.9.7.59263, single player) and DCS Liberation (v1.3.1) and did not encounter any issues with it up to now.

I always add my flight manually and start ASAP.

I especially like the performance settings, compared to DCS Liberation, to get a better flight experience on my not so powerful PC.

Hi,i had same experience till last DCS update but since than i get error tha there is no file in saves of Retribution?

Is there a newer version and are you still using this one without errors?

I remeber that Liberation and Retribution created folder in Saved games/open beta/Liberation/saves but since there is no more OB in MT version it still creates folder named DCS open beta??

Thx

 

[Airbarba]

This is how it looks...

[fox_the_apprentice]

On 10/3/2024 at 11:56 PM, Airbarba said:

This is how it looks...

 

 

Make sure you're in the right Saved Games folder, and that Liberation is configured to put the generated mission into the correct Saved Games folder. It should be the Saved Games folder in your user directory.

 

For example, I have my user directory moved off of my C drive to my D drive:

My user directory is at `D:\username`, but the default Windows location is `C:\users\username\`. This means that my Windows profile folders (Documents, Desktop, Downloads, Pictures, Saved Games, etc.) are not at the default Windows location. (I did this when setting up my PC by [Shift+Right-click]ing each folder, selecting Properties, and selecting the Location tab.)

The default location of `C:\users\username\Saved Games\DCS\Liberation` exists because Liberation improperly creates that folder instead of pulling my proper user directory location (so it should be `D:\username\Saved Games\DCS\Liberation` if Liberation did things properly). It simply assumes you have the default locations for everything, and then creates it if those folders don't exist. It also defaults to assuming your DCS Saved Games directory is in the default location alongside of itself.

DCS itself properly uses my `D:\username\Saved Games\DCS`, as it should. That's where I moved my Windows profile directory to, after all! Liberation doesn't find this directory by default, however; I have to tell it where to go, which is annoying.

You can see in the attached image what each directory looks like on my PC.

 

# TL;DR #

What I suspect is happening is that DCS is using a different Saved Games directory than what Liberation is configured to use. You can which directory Liberation uses by opening Liberation and selecting File -> Preferences.

Try going there, selecting the `Browse` button next to "DCS saved game directory". Then, in the *TOP* of the file browser (not the bottom) enter %USERPROFILE% and press Enter (the percent signs are important, don't cut them out). There should be a `Saved Games` folder in that directory that has a DCS folder inside it. (I have 2, and have to be careful which one I select.) That DCS folder should contain folders such as Config, Data, fxo, InputUserProfiles, Missions, etc. That's the DCS folder you should be selecting.

If you only see a Liberation folder inside of your selected DCS folder, then you're in the wrong place.

(And don't forget to hit `Select folder` and `Apply` instead of just closing the windows!)

Edited October 24, 2024 by fox_the_apprentice
Added instructions to confirm choices and not to just close the windows. Also revised the instructions.

[Airbarba]

Thx for info.

Solved problems by reinstalling windows and now Retribution works fine!

How can I add MOD?

There is Rafale Mod that is based on FA18 avionics by FR3D studio and works fine(not stand alone MOD),kind of like Superbugs Superhornet!

Thx

Regards

[fox_the_apprentice]

26 minutes ago, Airbarba said:

Thx for info.

Solved problems by reinstalling windows and now Retribution works fine!

How can I add MOD?

There is Rafale Mod that is based on FA18 avionics by FR3D studio and works fine(not stand alone MOD),kind of like Superbugs Superhornet!

Thx

Regards

Mods have to be supported by Liberation/Retribution directly.

When creating a new game, you can select which supported mods you want to include. I've attached an image of that screen during new game creation. I thought you could add mods partway through, but now I can't find the menu to do that... Maybe I'm misremembering.

Retribution supports more mods, but I'm less familiar with it.

 

You might be able to get around the requirement by creating a mission with you piloting a different but similar aircraft, then going into the Mission Editor and replacing that aircraft with your modded aircraft (but not replacing the name of the flight or anything else), and then after the mission using the 'manually submit results' option but manually editing the JSON file to return any instance of your modded aircraft back to the unmodded one. I've not tried this, though.

Alternatively, you can try to add and manage the mod support into Liberation source, but that will take some effort: https://github.com/dcs-liberation/dcs_liberation/wiki/Modded-Aircraft-Support

 

Edited October 24, 2024 by fox_the_apprentice

[Airbarba]

That is very kind,

yes I used that way to frag f16 and than in ME to change it to Rafale FR3D Mod!

Apart from editing in ME and editing/making liveries codeing and other scripting programs are not my area......

Hope someone can add FR3D mod in Retribution ....

Regards